Kimi RAIKKONEN last night slammed new allegations that Ferrari are Grand Prix cheats.

And the Finn vowed his team will win the world title on the track and not in the court room.

The Iceman hit back at damning accusations by embattled McLaren boss Ron Dennis that Maranello had won the opening race of the season with an illegal car.

The Ferrarigate spy scandal erupted in a new war of words as the Formula One fraternity assembled outside Budapest for Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix.

"For sure I believe the racing should be won on the track rather than in a courtroom," said Raikkonen, who has started this race from pole for the last two years and won in 2005.

"Whatever happens in the coming weeks or months it would be nicer for everyone if the championship was decided on the circuit.

"Sometimes there are other issues that get involved in the whole situation.

"I hear many different things on the same story so I will just wait to see and keep on doing my own thing. We are going to push as hard as we can to win races and fight for every victory and every point.

"That's the only way of racing. We are not waiting to gain some advantage in any other way. That would be a completely different story and we keep racing as before. Hopefully we can catch up."

Raikkonen had a terse response for Dennis's dramatic claims Ferrari had an illegal floor attachment in Melbourne and an illegal competitive advantage.

"I guess we would have been disqualified if we had been not legal so, probably, he was not right," he added.

The rules were subsequently changed and the floor banned. McLaren finally went on the offensive yesterday as the sport's governing body granted an appeal court hearing over the decision not to punish the Woking team for having Ferrari secrets.

In Dennis' comprehensive 3,000-word defence he said: "McLaren's reputation has been unfairly sullied by incorrect press reports from Italy and grossly misleading statements from Ferrari.

"As far as we are aware, Ferrari ran their cars with this illegal device at the Australian Grand Prix, which they won. In the interests of the sport, McLaren chose not to protest the result of the Australian Grand Prix even though it seems clear that Ferrari had an illegal competitive advantage.

"Ferrari only withdrew the floor device after it was confirmed to be illegal by the FIA. Were it not for Mr Stepney drawing this illegal device to the attention of McLaren, and McLaren drawing it to the attention of the FIA, there is every reason to suppose that Ferrari would have continued to race with an illegal car."

Dennis also echoed wider feelings that the spy saga is ruining the reputations of both teams as well as the sport and sullying one of the best world title fights in years.